Syracuse basketball recruit Tyler Lydon makes Team USA: 'I'll never forget this as long as I live'

Tyler Lydon, who attends New Hampton School, practices with USA Basketball's U18 team in Colorado Springs.

(Courtesy of USA Basketball)

Syracuse, NY -- The news, when it came, smoothed a snarl of frustrating transportation delays and concerns. It turned the two-day travel nightmare into a surreal culmination of a dream.

Nobody knocked on Tyler Lydon's door Sunday morning. Nobody from USA Basketball summoned him from slumber to deliver the devastating news that he had been cut from the U18 team. Nobody sent him home to Pine Plains, where Lydon spent last Tuesday and Wednesday wondering if he would ever reach Colorado Springs to try out for the chance to represent his country.

"Oh, it's mind-boggling," Lydon said late Monday night, after practice ended in Colorado. "I still can't even believe that I'm playing for Team USA. It's such a huge honor. And I'm so thankful for this opportunity and for everyone who's helped me get here."

A series of flight delays and cancellations nearly deprived Lydon of the chance to compete for a spot on the team.

Originally scheduled to depart from Albany at 5 a.m. last Tuesday, Lydon was halfway to the airport from Pine Plains (about an hour south of the city), when the airline texted an alert that his flight had been cancelled. After returning home and sleeping a few more hours, Lydon and his mom returned to the airport, where they sat for approximately five hours as airline personnel tried to sort out Lydon's dilemma. More cancellations and delays led to a return trip to Pine Plains with the plan to try again the next morning.

"It was crazy and it was frustrating and we were worried about getting him out there," said Susan Lydon, Tyler's mom. "He was getting very upset."

"I just really wanted to get out there and play. I just wanted to show the coaches what I can do on the court," Tyler Lydon said. "I was a little worried because I was only there for two sessions and every other player was getting like four sessions in. I thought it would make an impact on their decision, but I was happy they kept me around."

Lydon, a 6-foot-9 forward, survived the first cut, when coaches gathered the original group of 24 to announce the cut to 15. He was assured, he said, by a USA Basketball staff member that coaches kept him not because they needed more days to evaluate him but because "they thought I had earned it, that I played really hard and really well."

Buoyed by that revelation, Lydon continued to work to impress. He listened as U18 (and University of Florida) coach Billy Donovan told prospective players that the committee of coaches wanted players who could seamlessly, unselfishly mesh as teammates. That instruction, Lydon said, guided his performance.

"For me, it was like I really don't have to score because everyone here is so talented, everyone here can score the ball," Lydon said. "So I just tried to make the extra pass, bring the energy and prove that I could help them out."

The second cut came on Sunday, when coaches coaxed dismissed players out of their rooms with a morning knock. Lydon said he steeled himself to the possibility that Sunday would be his last day in Colorado. He consoled himself with the thought that making the final 15 of a national team was "something I should be proud of" regardless of whether he survived the weekend.

"From that point on," he said, "everything else was just a bonus."

He is still there, still competing for playing time with the best 11 players in his high school recruiting class. Lydon said he used to scour recruiting service rankings to see how he stacked up against his playing peers until he realized how insignificant those rankings really are. He scored a late invitation to the USA training camp and knew few of the nation's top prospects when he finally arrived in Colorado Springs.

He has been slotted into a "stretch four" position at training camp because of his ability to sink 3-point shots, create off the dribble and play with fierce determination.

"I think that there's a lot of people that doubted me, that doubted I should be here," he said. "So now, it's just that much better that I did make the team, that I really am someone that should be considered a good player."

Back home, his family is trying to figure out more transportation logistics. Lydon has three brothers; his mom said she and her husband are toying with the idea of packing the two younger boys, ages 10 and 13, into the family van and crossing the country to watch Tyler play.

"We really want to get out there," Susan Lydon said. "He misses us and he really wants to share it with us. And we want to share it with him. It's a long drive. My husband and I are both over 6-feet and the boys are big, too. We'll probably squeeze into the minivan and drive the 30 hours."

Susan Lydon said she is "still pinching myself" to think that her son will represent the United States in an international competition. Tyler Lydon remembered a conversation he had with a teammate at New Hampton School not long ago. The teammate asked Lydon to name one thing he hoped to accomplish this summer.

"I just said I was hoping to get an invite to try out for Team USA. I thought it was such a cool idea and then to find out that I did get the invitation, I came out and competed and now I'm on the team is a dream come true," he said. "It's something special. I mean, I'll never forget this as long as I live."